


Youthful Thoughts

by secondalto



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Angst, Brooding, F/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-31
Updated: 2012-07-31
Packaged: 2017-11-11 10:13:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondalto/pseuds/secondalto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giles has a thought that has interesting consequences</p>
            </blockquote>





	Youthful Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> With thanks to [](http://xdawnfirex.dreamwidth.org/profile)[ **xdawnfirex**](http://xdawnfirex.dreamwidth.org/)  for looking it over and pushing for more. Written for Summer of Giles 2012

Rupert Giles was getting ready for bed, thinking of everything that had happened in his life. Choosing to base their operations in Scotland had done wonders for all of them, especially Buffy. She might gripe about missing the California sun, but she’s grown to love the wild country out here. Their isolation had forced her to forgive him and they had more than repaired their relationship. She’d started to show signs that she returned his long unrequited affections. There had been a few chaste kisses, but many touches and other signs. And there was her solution to dealing with her nightmares; crawling into bed with him. 

Giles smiled at this. Perhaps it was time he took her somewhere warm for a while. They had small outposts all over the globe and Xander had a handle on the day to day operations here. He thought they could go to the Mediterranean or Caribbean, maybe even back to California for a few months. Somewhere they could be together and explore the budding relationship. Giles sighed. He wasn’t getting any younger. He wouldn’t wish, but the thought of letting Buffy go, have a normal life with someone closer to her own age did cross his mind often. But he knew his Slayer; she would be stubborn and insist that he was perfect for her.

He climbed into bed and settled down for the night. He did not stir much when a few hours later, Buffy curled into him and settled her head on his chest. Neither of them felt the tingle of magic that crept into the room. 

                                                                *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The scream was what woke him, but the punch to the arm made him open his eyes wide on groan of pain. Buffy was wide-eyed and frantic, kneeling at the end of the bed in a defensive stance. 

“Buffy?”

“Who are you?” she yelled. “Where’s Giles? What have you done with Giles?”

He shook his head. “Buffy, it’s me.”

“I don’t think so, buster.” She tensed up, ready to spring on him in an instant.

Giles caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror by the bed. It was him, just…younger. He was as he had been when he’d met Ethan. And if he hadn’t buried the man himself, Giles would have sworn this was the chaos-mage’s work. He remembered the incident when he’d been transformed into a Fyarl and caught Buffy as she tried to tackle him. He maneuvered her under him, pinning her to the bed.

“My eyes, Buffy, look at my eyes.”

She stopped struggling against him and looked. He saw comprehension come across her features and relaxed a little. Her hand went up to his face, caressing his cheeks.

“Giles?”

“Yes, it’s me, Buffy,” he said gently.

Xander and Willow burst into the room with several younger Slayers and Andrew behind them. Buffy wriggled under out from under him and held out her hands. “Its okay, this really is Giles.”

“Um, Buff,” Xander said. “Care to explain the uh…,” he waved at her. Willow just looked on wide-eyed.

She was wearing her nightshirt which barely came to her knees. Giles was just wearing pajama pants. Buffy blushed and Giles started to go red.

“Well, Giles and I,” she started as Giles said, “We’re um….”

Willow and Xander burst out laughing. “Oh, please,” Willow said. “You really think we didn’t know about you two?”

“Yeah, you thought you could keep it a secret in a castle full of teenagers? So, onto younger Giles here, spell?” Xander asked.

Buffy and Willow just gave him looks and he shrugged. He sent everyone else to breakfast while the original Scoobies stayed to figure out what had happened.

“We sure that Ethan is dead? This smells just like him,” Buffy said. 

“Quite,” Giles said.

“You didn’t make a wish?” Willow said.

“Of course not,” Giles replied.

“So what’s with the Fountain of Youth look?” Xander said. “Though I gotta say you’re rocking it.”

Giles smiled weakly. “I’m not sure. I’m rather perturbed that none of our alarms went off if this is magical in nature.”

“I’ll look into that,” Willow said. “What were you doing last night?”

“Nothing, just getting ready for bed, thinking of places Buffy and I might go on vacation.”

“Awww, that’s sweet.” Buffy came over and hugged him. 

“Anything else going on in that big brain of yours?” Willow prompted. 

“There was brief notion of wanting Buffy to be happy and that maybe she would be with someone closer to her own age.”

“That might have been the trigger,” she said.

“Why?” Buffy asked. “And from where?”

“I don’t know, we’re going to have to do some research, make some calls.”

\--------------------------------------------

They had breakfast delivered to the library, while they poured over books and Giles made some calls. At one point Willow locked herself in his office to make contact with places that could not be reached by conventional means. When she came out she was shaking her head.

“D’hoffryn swears it’s not any of his people. And I still don’t know why the wards didn’t go off. Anything from the books?”

“Nothing yet,” Buffy sighed, pushing one of them away from her.

“Nada,” said Xander reaching for another.

Giles was in the corner, speaking in low tones on the phone. He hung up after another minute and joined them at the table. “That was Maeve, she says no one she knows, other than Willow, is powerful enough to have done this.”

They were all quiet for a moment. Then Xander looked up. “What about you?”

“Beg pardon?” Giles said.

“Hear me out,” he said. “You said no one other than Willow, which mean MAJOR mojo going on, right?”

Giles and Willow nodded.

“Then why not you?” he said. “You’re just as powerful as she is, if not more so when you really want to be. Could you have done this to yourself?”

“It would explain why the wards didn’t go off. They aren’t tuned to my magic or yours, Giles, just others that might do harm.”

“You don’t think this is harmful?” Giles yelled.

“Not really,” Buffy said. “You thought I should be with someone closer to my age, now I am.”

“If you really wanted it, your subconscious would have worked the magic in your sleep,” Willow said. “I’ve read about it happening. It’s in Alterian’s Codex I think, you should read that.”

“I’m sure I’ll get to it soon. There’s no way to reverse it?”

“I’m guessing that’s up to you,” Xander said and Willow nodded. “Well, if that’s all solved, there’s some repairs in the east wing I have to supervise.”

“And I have a class to teach,” Willow said. They both left.

Buffy had gathered all the books and left them on a cart. “I got training so I should go too.” Then she started to leave.

“Buffy a moment,” Giles said.

“What’s up?”

“You seem rather unfazed but the fact that I am now at least twenty years younger.”

“Don’t get me wrong, older Giles is a very sexy and studly man, but I’m growing to like younger Giles too,” she said. She stepped closer to him, running her hands over his chest. “I was worried what might happen if we…we…,” she blushed.

“Became physically involved?”

“Yeah. I’m way stronger than you were, I was half afraid I’d break you. But now, not so much. And I know what you’ll look like as you get older. My husband’s going to be very sexy, all my friends will be very jealous,” she said.

“Husband?” he gulped. “Buffy, I…I…we’ve barley even kissed!”

“Something I plan on remedying very soon, Rupert Giles.”

“So you don’t want me to change back?”

“Nope, you still have all your memories and everything?”

“Of course, my mind is quite stable thank you.”

“Then what’s the fuss about? You’re mine, Giles. I’m yours.”

“I’m not sure I want to be young again, it wasn’t exactly a happy time in my life.”

“Well, let’s see, you don’t have to go back to school, unless you want to. You have more time to read all those books like you’ve been wanting too. You probably don’t have all the aches and pains that you used to and don’t lie, I know you pop pills when it’s damp, I’ve seen you.”

Giles took a moment to realize that all the assorted pains he was used to had gone.

“Yes, well…that still doesn’t change the fact that I’m younger. And apparently I did this to myself!” He threw up his hands in frustration, pacing the room.

“And I said it was different now. There’s no Ethan to lure you into bad things, no Council to dictate how you should run your life. You are the Council, Giles. What’s the downside?”

“Why would I want to be young? Why would I willingly want to change who I am?”

“I can’t answer that for you, Giles. I can leave you to brood here if you like, but brooding doesn’t really solve much.”

Giles shook his head. “No, I just..I never thought…but why this young?”

“Oh, Giles,” Buffy sighed. “They really did a number on you. I think we’re perfect for each other. I can carry your bags, you can get mine. “

“I might have a bit more baggage than you, Buffy.”

“No worries, Slayer strength,” she grinned, posing with her arms up, showing off her muscles. He smiled.

“How do I explain this to our outside contacts? I am still me inside of the youthful face, they trusted the old face.”

“I’m sure we’ll come up with something. And they’ll get used to the new you. Or is it the old you because this is what you looked like before right?”

“Yes, it is.  I still don’t know though…it’s quite disconcerting to think that part of me wanted to be younger.”

“Well, here’s a thought. Try out the new younger you.”

“Beg pardon?”

“Give the new old you a try. For like a week. If you don’t like being a younger man, then maybe you can think/wish/magic yourself older again.”

Giles stopped pacing, thinking about this. “That’s a good idea. I am certainly not missing the aches and pains I had before. I could keep up with you and the other Slayers in training.”

“And you have a smoking hot girlfriend who wants to spend hours making mad passionate love to you,” Buffy said, smiling seductively. “What could be bad about that?”

“Mad passionate love?”

“Or we could just fuck like bunnies, it’s up to you,” Buffy grinned.

Maybe Buffy did have a point. Youth did have its advantages. “Let’s start now,” he said, waving a hand at the library door locking it.

Buffy smiled wickedly and began unbuttoning her shirt.


End file.
